WHOIS privacy option is now open for .NZ registrants

Domain Name Commission (DNCL) announced that, from November 1st, individuals who have registered a .NZ domain name will be able to mask the registrant’s contact details from being publicly displayed. This provision has been made due to privacy and personal safety.

DNCL also announced that the change is provisional as they are conducting a review to determine what information should be displayed when a WHOIS search is done on a .NZ domain name. Therefore, a provisional address masking option has been introduced to help with these concerns while DNCL carries on with its WHOIS review. Those wanting to take advantage of the option will have their contact address masked with a unique reference code and DNCL’s P.O. Box address.

Domain Name Commissioner, Debbie Monahan says that DNCL is currently running a public consultation wherein they are asking for feedback on two policy options for withholding some information in the WHOIS, including contact address information.

Monahan added :

In the meantime, the address masking option announced today is intended to allay any personal safety concerns around public display of address information while we finish up our review and implement any permanent policy changes – expected to be later in 2017.

The company also said that this option will enable individual registrants to mask their contact address from display in the .NZ WHOIS. The option however does not change their contact address information recorded with the .NZ Registry, it just implies that information cannot be seen when someone does a WHOIS search on their domain name. Any mail sent to the masked address displayed on the WHOIS will be forwarded to the address on the Register which is maintained by DNCL.